Early Days
by Laura x Tennant
Summary: Set a couple of weeks after the Doctor's regeneration (i.e. post-TCI but pre-New Earth.) Rose is sure he's the same man and the Doctor's as in love with her as ever, so maybe it's time to move slowly but steadily towards something more.
1. Chapter 1

**Early Days**

"Just...out of interest, sweetheart," began Jackie cautiously.

Rose looked up from her magazine. "Yeah?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, I'm just curious..."

"What is it, Mum?"

Jackie glanced at the Doctor to check he was still asleep, then looked back at her daughter. "Is he alright?"

Rose nodded. "Yeah, he's fine. He's just a bit sleepier than usual 'cos of getting over the regeneration thing. He'll be back to normal in no time."

"But..."

"What?"

"Well, you agreed that you're going with him again, didn't you?"

Rose bristled. "Yeah. Why, don't you think I should?"

"I didn't say that!" Jackie protested. "If the travelling...if _he _makes you happy, then, well. It's up to you. I suppose I was just wondering if you were having doubts. Either of you."

Rose's brow furrowed worriedly. "Why would you think that? What's he said? Has he said something to you?"

"No, no, darling," Jackie reassured her hastily, putting her mug on the coffee table. She leant forwards and rested her elbows on her knees, as though conferring on the issue. "But it's been two weeks. Two whole weeks of having you home, and don't get me wrong, I'm loving it! I love having you here again. But it's not like you two to stick around so long..."

"We made a deal," Rose told her.

"What do you mean?"

She leant forwards too and spoke quietly in case the Doctor woke up. "He was pretending to be in perfect health, but I think the whole Christmas thing after just regenerating took it out of him. He needed to recover and slow down a bit. Plus, I thought maybe..."

"What?"

Rose bit her lip nervously then whispered, "Well, I wanted to test him. To see if what he said at Christmas...to see if he meant it. About wanting me to go with him still."

"And..." Jackie prompted.

"So I tested him. With a deal. I told him I wasn't gonna go with him if he didn't stop here and take a holiday for a bit. Part of me didn't think he'd accept it, so as soon as I'd told him that I regretted it 'cos I thought he might just go without me."

"But he didn't," Jackie murmured.

Rose smiled slightly. "Nope. He negotiated. Said that in that case I had to take _him _out for adventures around London." She giggled slightly at the memory. "He told me to take him to the places I love and hate."

"Why hate?" Jackie's eyebrows drew together in confusion.

Rose glanced over at him fondly and her smile widened. "To make nicer memories there."

"So where have you shown him that you don't like?"

"Remember that school trip to the Natural History museum when I was about fifteen? Well, I always hated that place after 'cos I completely embarrassed myself there."

"Really? You never told me that! How did you embarrass yourself?"

Rose blushed. "Doesn't matter. What matters is, the Doctor and me went there and he told me about all the stuff and that he was going to take me to see it all in real life, in the past, and it was..." she trailed off wistfully.

Jackie couldn't help but smile. "So…what do you think of this new Doctor then? Is he meeting the old one's standards?"

Rose shrugged. "That remains to be seen," she murmured elusively. "But I think I'm convinced, you know, about him being the same man and everything."

"Yeah? Why's that then?"

"Well, he still – we still – it's hard to explain."

Jackie raised her eyebrows. "You still fit together?"

She tilted her head to the side, contemplating that. "I guess we do, yeah." She saw her mother's smirk and rolled her eyes. "Not like that. It's – it's never been like that."

"It hasn't?" Jackie asked, sounding doubtful.

"Mum, I've told you this over and over again. We're just friends."

Jackie nodded. "Yes. Alright. Well – do you want to know how I knew he was the same man?"

"How?"

"All you had to do was whisper 'help me' in his ear and he jumped up and rescued us." Jackie stood up to clear their mugs away. "And I'll tell you something else. He looks at you the same." She started to walk towards the kitchen.

"What?" Rose murmured, turning around. "Mum, what? What do you mean?"

Jackie dropped the mugs into the sink then returned to the living room. "He looks at you the way he's looked at you from the start. Right from the time he was standing in here and I was accusing him of all sorts."

"When you slapped him?" Rose grinned.

"Yeah, when I slapped him." Jackie sniffed proudly. "And I stand by that - he did deserve it, bringing you back so late, well, taking you off without so much as a word in the first place. But – and now I dunno anything about aliens and whatnot – but I know one thing for certain about himself over there." She nodded towards the Doctor, who, as Rose had shifted around to face her mother, had subsequently moved closer to her in his sleep.

"What's that?"

"He never wants to lose you. Ever." Jackie paused, then continued softly, "He needs you, Rose. Perhaps even more than I need you – and that's - " She swallowed thickly. "That's hard for me to say, but blimey, I can see it right in front of me. Every time you're together. Even poor Mickey sees it. 'Cos it's a different sort of love, isn't it? And you might be telling me fibs when you say it's not how it looks, or you might be telling the truth – I s'pose it's none of my business. Either way, the man's in love with you, and I've never seen two people make each other more happy than you two do."

Rose bit her lip, unable to offer a vocal response to Jackie's observations, and glanced at the Time Lord in question. His head was inclined towards her shoulder, as though waiting for her to shift back around so that it could rest there again. His shirt was a little rumpled, his tie askew. His fingers twitched against her leg, palm up – waiting.

She smiled at her mum, then turned around again, her hand slipping into his, his head dropping to her shoulder. She let out a sigh of contentment. Jackie retreated to the kitchen to do the washing up. All was quiet for a few moments, so Rose thought things through.

Fact number one: she'd never heard her mum speak so nicely of the Doctor before.

Fact number two: the Doctor was drooling on her shoulder.

Fact number three: what her mum had said was a bit too massive for Rose to completely accept at the moment.

Fact number four: the Doctor just let out a little snore, which was going to be excellent teasing material for later.

Fact number five: god, she loved him.

Fact number six: fact number five was very, very awkward right now, because it was way too soon, he'd only just changed - and besides, he was a nine hundred year old Time Lord and she was just a _shop girl _for goodness' sake.

Fact number seven: the Doctor sitting beside her, drooling on her shoulder and snoring a little, was the same man who had taken her hand and told her to run; the same man who had weighed the fate of the world up against losing her across a table in Downing Street; the same man who had, as Jack had secretly confided to her once, told the Captain to back off. The same man whom she'd chosen over her Mum, over Mickey, over this life on the Powell Estate.

Fact number eight: she wanted to be with him for as long as possible. Preferably forever.

She felt him stirring beside her and glanced down. His eyes blinked open slowly, and when they focussed on her he beamed. "Hello," he murmured, voice slightly husky with sleep.

"You finished drooling on me, then?" she asked, with an arched eyebrow.

"I wasn't - " he began to protest, then glanced at her shoulder. "Ah. Sorry about that." He gave her a sheepish grin and his eyes briefly flickered to her lips, though she could have been just imagining that last bit; it was hard to tell what with the Facts running through her head right then. "I was having a nice dream."

"Were you now?" she replied instantly, and really, she hadn't meant for it to sound so suggestive; she was simply picking up on his tone of voice.

He glanced at her lips again – she was pretty certain he did, anyway – and then smiled. "Yeah."

"What about?"

"Oh, just New Year's Eve." His eyes were bright with mischief, and he was fully awake now, though he still seemed to be leaning against her a bit, which was a little disconcerting - and also a little wonderful.

Rose's cheeks tinged a bit pink. "What about New Year's Eve?" she murmured.

New Year's Eve had been rather fantastic, really – everyone had come round to Jackie's for a party, and the Doctor had actually made an effort to socialise with all the Tyler friends and family, charming them with jokes and chitchat. Well, until he'd popped upstairs to the roof for a bit of fresh air, just before midnight. Rose had gone searching for him, not wanting to ring in the New Year without her best friend.

~x~

"_Thought you might be up here. Needed to escape the mad house, eh?" Rose called out to him, as she crossed the roof to where he stood staring up at the sky, coat billowing gently in the wind. "Bit human for you, I s'pose."_

_He turned to face her once she reached him. "Actually, I came up here 'cos I knew you'd follow."_

"_Hmm?" she murmured, then shivered; she hadn't thought to bring her coat with her due to her haste in finding him before the clock struck twelve._

"_You're cold," he replied softly. _

"_Well I am wearing a short black dress in the middle of Winter – why'd I do that, again?" she laughed._

"_I don't know, to be honest. It's lovely and everything, but you'd look just as nice in a big woolly jumper, so…" He shrugged casually._

"_Yeah?" she smiled, blushing a little at the rare compliment._

"_Of course," he smiled back. "Look nice in a bin bag, you would."_

"_Well now you're just being daft," she giggled. She shivered again._

_The Doctor reached forwards and guided her into his arms, wrapping his coat around her, effectively trapping her against him. "Warmer?"_

_She swallowed. "Yeah."_

"_I want you to know something," he whispered, his breath mingling with hers due to their proximity._

"_Okay…"_

"_What you did. Coming back to me like that, after I sent you away to keep you safe. I…thank you. I mean, it was terribly dangerous and everything, and you really shouldn't have bothered, but thank you. It meant – means – a lot to me."_

"_Well I couldn't just let you face them on your own. Not again."_

"_Hmm?"_

_She sighed sadly. "You'd already had to face the Daleks on your own, during the – the Time War. I didn't want…" she trailed off, and met his gaze. _

_He was looking at her with something like awe in his eyes. He opened then closed his mouth._

_Rose added, "You showed me a better way of living my life. That's how I explained it to Mum and Mickey, when they tried to get me to stay. You showed me a better way. Standing up and doing what's right. Going back to you – that was me, standing up and doing what was right. Yeah? Besides. You would've died. Well – I s'pose…I s'pose you still did, but - "_

"_I'm right here. I'm right here, alive, because of you."_

"_Yeah but I also cost you one of your regenerations."_

"_Well I couldn't just let you burn up after coming all that way to save me. Had to stand up and do what was right, eh?" He gave her a tender smile. "I need you very much alive, Rose Tyler. You know that."_

_She nodded. There was a slight pause in their conversation, but then she heard him whispering, "Ten. Nine. Eight…" Rose smiled. Of course he could tell when it was nearly time. "Five. Four. Three - "_

"_Doctor," she murmured, on 'Two.'_

"_Rose," he whispered back, instead of 'One.'_

_It was the space of another breath before their lips met in a brief, chaste kiss. _

"_Happy New Year, Rose Tyler," he whispered against her cheek as he pulled his lips away. Their noses bumped gently and he swallowed hard._

"_Yeah," Rose breathed out roughly. "Happy New Year."_

_They stared at each other for a second or two, still so closely wrapped up together in his coat, the fireworks going off across London, as far as the eye could see. Their heads turned to watch them, but they didn't let go of each other for the longest time._

~x~


	2. Chapter 2

"Well, I seem to remember eating a rather nice banana split that night," he replied.

Rose rolled her eyes. "And here I was thinking you'd been dreaming about kissing me. Always comes down to a bloody banana with you, doesn't it?" she laughed.

"Sorry, but it was _very _good."

"And the kiss wasn't?"

He chuckled but diverted the topic effortlessly, "Bananas are an all-round excellent fruit, really – there's so much you can do with them." Rose smirked, and he spluttered for a moment before assuring her, "I meant in terms of food preparation! Desserts! Lots of different banana-y desserts! Banoffee pie, for instance! Now _there's _a dessert - "

"Alright, alright, I get it," Rose giggled. She stood up and stretched, thus dislodging his grip on her hand.

"Where are you going?" he asked, his brows drawing together.

"Thought I might go get us a take-away. What do you fancy?"

"I'll come with you," he announced, standing up.

"You don't have to."

"I want to." He paused. "Unless…"

"What?"

"Do _you _want me to come with you? Should I give you some space? I know we've been in each other's pockets these past two weeks, I wouldn't want you to feel like I'm crowding you or anything - "

"It's fine, come on," she smiled. "Mum, we're just gonna go get some food. Any preferences?"

"Ooh, I'd love some Chinese!" Jackie called out.

Rose rolled her eyes. The Doctor smiled sympathetically, knowing that Chinese was secretly Rose's least favourite meal of the take-away variety. "You ought to just tell her," he murmured.

"But she thinks I love it," Rose whispered back, as she gathered up her purse and keys. "And she's thought that for the last ten years, so I can't go and tell her _now." _

"We could always say that the Chinese takeaway has closed down," he suggested, passing Rose her jacket before pulling on his own.

"Yeah, like she'd believe that," Rose scoffed. She sighed and looped her arm through his. "Come on, I'll suffer through it again," she declared dramatically.

The Doctor chuckled as they stepped out of the flat. "How about we go and get some chips first, to fill you up? That way you won't have to endure too much of the food you don't like."

"Alright then," she smiled. "You know, what I _really _fancy right now is that food we got on – what was it called, Rochmia Six?"

"Roochomia Six, yeah. We'll have to go back there so that I can test out the food with my new new tastebuds," he grinned.

"Good plan," Rose giggled. "When will that be, do you think?"

"Hmm?"

"When are we gonna go back up there?" she clarified, nodding up at the sky.

"Well, you were the one who wanted to stay here for a bit. Do you reckon I've had enough rest yet?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure…" she pondered. "After all, you are still taking random naps in the middle of the day."

"I s'pose," he conceded to her point. "I'll probably be back to normal within a few more days."

"Bet you're glad of that, eh?" she grinned. "Get to escape Mum at last?"

"Yeah, but..." He shrugged. "It's been quite fun, really."

"What, playing human?"

"Yeah. And your Mum's not so bad. Don't tell her I said that, though."

"I won't," Rose promised.

Their walking pace slowed as they neared the chip shop. "Do _you _dream about it, then?" the Doctor asked suddenly, stopping them just before they entered.

She blinked silently at his non-sequitur, then asked, "Sorry, what are we talking about now?"

"New Year's Eve. Or, more specifically…" He paused, and looking down at her, meeting her curious gaze. "The, er. Thing that happened. On the roof, at midnight. When we, um, when we kissed."

Rose arched an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

He chuckled nervously, one hand coming up to tug on his ear. "I was just…wondering. That's all."

"Why?"

"Because…" he trailed off hesitantly, his eyes flicking between hers. "Well, maybe because I was sort of wondering whether you'd like to, um." He cleared his throat, looking extremely self-conscious. "Perhaps, you know. Perhaps we could do that again sometime?"

"Doctor…"

"Yeah?"

She exhaled roughly. "Listen, it was nice – it was, it was _more _than nice – and I think you thought so too - "

He squinted at her. "Why can I sense there's a 'but' coming?"

Rose laughed. "The thing is, right, you don't need to worry, 'cos I'm already starting to – well. You're the same man as you were more than a fortnight ago. I get that, I do. It's just, it's still so soon – too soon for anything else. Yeah?"

"I know," he murmured. He placed his hands on her upper arms, his thumbs stroking gently. "It's okay. I know."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, course you can."

"Before you changed. It took me a while to realise, but I think you – you knew sooner, yeah? So why'd you never, you know…make a move?"

He swallowed hard. "I was scared. I _am _scared. But I want - Rose, I…" He let out a shaky breath. "You're going to stay with me, yeah?"

"Already said so, didn't I?" she smiled.

"Then we have time. Right? To…to wait. For as long as you need."

Rose's smile grew. "I don't think we'll have to wait too long. I just need a_ little _bit more time, that's all. But yeah, we've got the rest of my life to spend – well, doing whatever we want, really. As long as you don't get bored of me."

He chuckled and drew her into a hug. "Oh, Rose." He dropped a kiss to the top of her head.

"Just need to take things slowly, that's all," she mumbled against his shoulder.

He squeezed her tightly for a second, then released her. "Yes. We can do that."

She gazed up at him gratefully, fiddling with the lapels of his jacket. "D'you think…"

"What?" he prompted, staring into her eyes.

Rose started to smile. "I was just thinking. Maybe you're right, you know? We could do this, occasionally, _whilst_ we take things slow."

"This?" he whispered, his pulse rate speeding up in anticipation.

"Yeah, this," she whispered back, before standing on tiptoes and pulling him against her, their mouths connecting with just the smallest delay.

Whereas their New Year's celebratory kiss had been firm, fairly chaste, and very brief, this one was hot and hard and demanding. Her lips parted and he didn't hesitate – his tongue entered her mouth and slid against hers. His arms wrapped around her waist again, one of his hands slipping beneath her jacket and t-shirt to press against the soft skin of her lower back, and they both let out a groan or two when her hands moved up to run through and tug at his hair.

"Oh," she murmured breathlessly when they broke apart for air a minute or so later.

He let out a surprised giggle and scratched the back of his neck. "Mmm."

"We – uh - "

"Yeah."

"- should get the chips. And then the Chinese, for Mum - she'll be wondering where we've got to…"

The Doctor sighed a bit. "Oh. Yes. Forgot about that."

"Ha," she replied weakly. "Yeah. Me too."

They stared at each other for a few moments. Simultaneously, their dark, heated gazes slipped to each other's mouths again. A second later and they were snogging, the Doctor backing her up against the side wall of the chip shop. She clutched at the fabric of his jacket at the back of his neck; he pushed his hips into hers and groped for a good purchase on her thigh, dragging her leg up a bit so he could push closer. "Oh god," she murmured, as his mouth left hers only to fall upon her neck, nipping and sucking and, "_Doctor."_

The sound of a throat clearing made them pause. Awkwardly, they turned their heads, to find a man in an apron standing with his hands on his hips and a look of disapproval on his face.

"And there was me thinking it was just two teenagers getting a little too friendly," he said, his eyebrows rising. "How old are you two, exactly?" He didn't wait for an answer, just sighed at their sheepish expressions before continuing, "You're scaring away customers. You'd better come in and buy some chips in recompense."

The Doctor cleared his throat, slowly manoeuvring Rose's leg back in place. "We were going to buy some anyway," he assured him.

"Hmph," the chip shop man huffed. "You'd better." And then he went back inside.

The Doctor looked back at Rose, and upon seeing her biting her lip to hold in her laughter, gave her a wolfish grin. "Well."

"Well," she agreed.

"Chips?"

"Yeah."

::

"I haven't done that in a long time, you know," he murmured to her as they walked back to the flat, after eating their chips and grabbing some Chinese for Jackie.

"What's that?"

"Kissed someone. With, er...intentions. That is to say, I kissed you on the Gamestation and I kissed you on New Year's Eve, but…certainly not like that. Before those times, even, I…it's been a long time." He wasn't looking at her; he was too embarrassed and uncomfortable even _telling _her this, let alone telling her whilst meeting her eyes. "And you said we needed to take things slow. I'm…I'm sorry if I got a little carried away…" She hadn't said anything in response, so he sighed and chanced a look at her. She was staring up at him in surprise. "What?"

"It's just…you're pretty good at it. Seems like you'd've had a lot of practice in those nine hundred years of yours."

"Oh no, really not all that much. You see, I'm usually not – I don't really think about that sort of thing. Didn't, I mean. Not for ages. Decades. Not until – well, you," he assured her. "But wait," he realised, a pleased smile coming onto his face. "You think I'm good at it?"

Rose laughed. "Yeah. Yeah, that was…quite something."

He made a noise that possibly indicated his pleasure at being told that. "Well, I think you're excellent at kissing too."

They walked in a comfortable silence for a few moments, before the Doctor queried softly, "So. Shall we set some rules?"

"Rules? What do you mean?"

"Weellll. Seems to me that this going slowly lark is gonna require us stick to some…limitations, whilst we integrate the snogging into a daily schedule."

Rose giggled. "Oh. So, what, you mean…how much groping is allowed, that sort of thing?"

He tugged on his ear, a bit embarrassed again. "Yeah, exactly," he replied quietly.

"Okay - we'll write down a list when we get back to Mum's," she joked.

The Doctor smiled. "Sounds like a plan."


	3. Chapter 3

:: _Three hours later _::

"What about if I'm just allowed to touch them through your t-shirt?"

"Doctor!" she exclaimed, through a giggle.

"What? I'm negotiating. What's wrong with that?" he asked, half-teasing, half-genuinely curious.

"Keep your voice down," she hushed him. "Don't wake Mum up."

"So how many days have to pass before I'm allowed to put my hands on your bum?"

Rose snorted with laughter.

"Because I'd like to do that, you know. Could use that move to pull you against me quite nicely."

"I can't believe we're doing this," she giggled happily.

"Well, you were the one who suggested it."

"I was sort of joking," she pointed out. "Until you got the wine out and plied me with drink."

"I did no such thing. It was Jackie's suggestion, bringing out the leftover wine from New Year's Eve." He leant closer to her and waggled his eyebrows. "Everything comes back down to New Year's Eve, doesn't it?"

"I just can't believe how…how _sexual _you are when you've had a few drinks," she giggled. "Should've got you drunk months back."

"Time Lords can't get drunk," he frowned at her.

She arched an eyebrow and poked him in the chest. "You're definitely more than a bit tipsy, so I think we've disproved that this evening."

He shook his head at her, indicating his disagreement with her conclusion, and loosened his tie, ignoring the two empty wine bottles sitting on the coffee table in front of them. "I'm not at all tipsy. You're the one who's slurring your words."

"I am not slurring," she protested, reaching a hand over to his side of the sofa to help him with his tie. She untied it and slipped it from around his neck, chucking it haphazardly behind her.

"Oooh is this you seducing me?" he asked, his eyes lighting up as she crawled towards him properly.

"Definitely not," she countered, even as she sat on his lap. "We completely need to stick to the rules and wait."

"I agree," he replied, despite the fact that he was slipping his hands beneath her top already. "Better to wait. Slow and steady wins the race and all that."

"Pretty sure fast and hard would win the race as well though," she muttered under breath, mostly to herself – but the Doctor heard her.

"Oh, don't go and say things like that," he complained, planting his hands on her hips instead, tugging her against him to create a bit of friction. She groaned at the movement and buried her head in his neck.

"Why not?" she mumbled her response. Then she tilted her head back up and grinned cheekily. "Things hard enough already?"

"_Rose." _

She bit her lip impishly. "You love it."

"Hmm," he hummed non-committally.

She leant her head forwards, her forehead brushing his. He slid his hands up to hold her hair back to stop it tickling his face. They regarded each other with a heated look. "Go on," she whispered. "Say it. I'm drunk. I won't remember."

His eyes glittered mischievously but instead of doing as she asked, he simply tilted his head back an inch and seized her mouth with his. She made a sound of delight against his lips at his kissing technique, and began unbuttoning his shirt.

She was dismayed, therefore, when his hand enclosed around her wrist to disable her quest. "What?" she murmured, breaking their kiss. "Just want to touch you, that's all."

The Doctor sighed. "I know. I want to touch you too, believe me. But we shouldn't do this now."

"Bollocks to waiting," she snorted decidedly. "I want you." She sneaked her hand from his grasp and slid it into the waistband of his trousers. His head rolled back as he gave hiss of pleasure.

"Rose – Rose, we can't," he mumbled, his eyes widening as her touch grew bolder.

"Think this is proof that we can," she grinned cheekily.

"But we shouldn't do this whilst we're drunk."

"Why not?" she scoffed. "We both want this when we're _not _drunk, too."

"Might be awkward. In the morning," he tried to reason.

"Doctor, I'll probably have a massive hangover tomorrow. This'll be the least of my worries."

The Doctor growled and grabbed her treacherous hands, pinning them either side of his legs against the seat of the sofa. "We need to do what we agreed. We need to just…" He gulped, trying to gather up his self-control when she rocked against him. "We need to just stick to kissing and things, and wait until we're both sober enough to remember this the following morning."

Rose bit her lip, tilting her head to the side contemplatively. He could see that he'd almost persuaded her, so he added something quietly to sway her completely, "Rose, I want to remember every single moment of this. Every. Single. Moment. And I don't want you to rush into this and regret it after. You say you know I'm the same man and imply that you still feel the same, but – but really, you do need more time to get used to this. To me, and to – to this, to what we're becoming."

"Is it the same for you?" she asked softly.

"What do you mean?"

"The way you feel, about me. Is it the same as before? Or do you have to start from scratch when you regenerate?" She lowered her voice even more and nervously, hurriedly, asked, "D'you want to wait to do this once you've – once you've, you know. Fallen back in love with me."

He exhaled roughly. "Rose."

"Tell me, please, just tell me the truth about the way you feel, just this once," she murmured.

He swallowed hard. "You sure you're too drunk at the moment to remember me saying this tomorrow?"

Her heart sped up anxiously. "Yeah. Why, don't you want me to know?"

"Oh I do, Rose," he rushed to assure her, swallowing his nerves. "I do want you to know – I just. It's difficult to acknowledge it, don't you think? Out loud, I mean. It's always been much easier for me to just think it. Because I've known, Rose. All this time with you I've known, in my head. It's just hard to say it, to express it properly, especially since I know I don't deserve you."

"Say it," she whispered.

He took in a deep breath and then released it quickly. "I love you," he whispered. "I love you just as much now as I did before I changed." She smiled slowly and pressed her forehead against his, and he sighed against her lips. "I love you so much. That's why we need to wait. This has to happen when you feel the same."

"I do feel the same."

He shook his head slightly. "Falling in love takes time, Rose."

"Does it?" she countered.

He chuckled. "You're impossible."

"But you love me," she murmured happily. "So impossible isn't so bad."

"Well you're right about that," he told her. "You're right about that."


	4. Chapter 4

They woke up the following morning entangled together on sofa. Rose lifted her head from the Doctor's chest and mumbled, "Oh blimey."

The Doctor's eyes blinked open slowly. "What's wrong?" he asked, through a yawn.

"I've got a killer headache," she complained. "Please tell me you are hungover as well."

"Nope," he smiled apologetically. "Time Lords don't get hangovers. Sorry."

"That's not fair," she muttered, sitting up properly. "We drank way too much wine last night."

"Yep."

She glanced between them, sighing in relief that they were both fully dressed. "Nothing…happened, then?"

"You don't remember?"

"…remember what?"

"Nothing happening."

"Oh. No, I don't remember much after Mum going to bed."

"We stayed up and chatted for a bit. Then you tried to seduce me but we stopped pretty sharpish, deciding that it'd be better to keep to our plan and wait."

"Oh god," she mumbled, cheeks flushing red in embarrassment.

"Hey, don't be embarrassed," he reassured her, reaching his hand out to cup her cheek tenderly. They stared at each other for a moment and then he cleared his throat and dropped his hand. "So."

"So," she agreed.

"What do you want to do today?"

"I was thinking maybe we should tell Mum that we're leaving tomorrow."

His eyes widened. "We're leaving tomorrow?"

"If that's all right," she shrugged. "I'm getting a bit…fidgety."

The Doctor beamed. "That is absolutely all right; I am too."

"Good," she laughed, relieved. Then she winced. "I'm gonna go and get some tablets for my head."

"Okay," he nodded, making room for her as she got up. He gave her hand a quick squeeze before she could walk away. "I'll get planning our first proper adventure with the new me."

Her smile lit up her face. "Sounds good to me."

::

"Mum, we'll come back and visit soon, yeah?" she said, during their conversation about their departure later that morning.

Jackie nodded, trying to smile. "Yeah, sweetheart, I know."

"You were the one who said that we should be getting back out there," Rose pointed out softly.

"And you should be," Jackie nodded. "I know it's what you and him want. And it makes you happy. I'm going to miss you, that's all." She looked between Rose and the Doctor. "Both of you. So, how about we spend the last day of your extended holiday together, eh?"

Rose looked at the Doctor, wondering what he'd say to that.

"Yeah," he murmured, surprising her with his eagerness to please her mum. "What would you like to do?"

"Hmm," Jackie pondered. Then her eyes lit up. "Ever been on the London Eye, Doctor?"

The Doctor and Rose shared an amused glance. "Not quite," he answered.

"Then that's what we'll do today."

::

"How can your mum be scared when she lives so high up in a block of flats?" the Doctor whispered to Rose, as they stood side by side in one of the capsules on the London Eye, looking out across the Thames. Jackie was clinging to the seats in the middle, her eyes squeezed shut.

Rose shrugged, just as baffled by her mum's behaviour. "No idea," she answered, then glanced at Jackie to check she definitely wasn't watching them, before slipping her arm around the Doctor's waist. "Good job it's foggy anyway. She isn't missing much."

"We ought to come back here one evening," he murmured, lifting his arm around her shoulders to let her stand snuggled against him. "Just us. And a sunset."

"Yeah, that sounds nice. Can't believe we didn't think of doing this before. But yeah, it'll be better in the evening. The Houses of Parliament look nice all lit up at night," Rose said.

"You just wait 'til I take you to Raomba." He'd dropped his voice an octave and Rose shivered. "Perpetual darkness for an entire season, there, and the buildings light up like fireworks to compensate."

Rose smiled and turned her head to check on her mum. As she did so, she realised a little girl was watching them with wide eyes. Rose gave the Doctor a squeeze around the middle to get his attention, and nodded towards their spectator.

"Hello," he said cheerfully.

"Hi," the girl muttered nervously, biting her lip.

"You all right?" Rose asked gently.

"Mmm. Just watching you. You remind me of my mummy and daddy."

"Oh. Are they here?" the Doctor asked, craning his neck to see.

"No," she answered sadly. She pointed to an older lady. "She's my granny, that's who I'm with today."

"Oh, I see," nodded the Doctor.

The little girl's grandma was seated next to Jackie in the middle of the capsule, apparently equally terrified, for she didn't realise her granddaughter had left her side.

"She looks after me all the time now, actually," the little girl said next.

Rose and the Doctor exchanged glances. "Really?" Rose said tentatively.

"Yeah. My name's Molly," she said.

"Hello," Rose replied. "I'm Rose, and this is the Doctor. Are you enjoying the London Eye, then, Molly?"

She shook her head. "I can't see much. It's so misty!"

"Yeah, it's a shame, that," replied the Doctor earnestly. "Maybe you could come back another day, when it's bright and clear?"

"I don't think Granny will want to come back." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "She's scared."

"Ah," the Doctor nodded knowingly. He then confided, "That lady next to her is Rose's mum. She's scared too."

"I want Mummy and Daddy to bring me here instead, 'cos they wouldn't be scared," Molly said next, her eyes downcast. "But they can't 'cos they've had to go to Heaven."

A lump came to Rose's throat. "Oh Molly."

"I'm so sorry about that, sweetheart," said the Doctor softly, reaching out and squeezing her little shoulder comfortingly.

Molly shrugged, tears pooling in her eyes. "I think there was an accident. Something to do with the car. It's been icy, so maybe…" She shivered. "Granny doesn't like to talk about it."

Rose felt sick with sorrow for Molly. She let go of the Doctor and crouched on the floor, so that she was eye level with her.

As a rule, Rose didn't like kids. She'd had to babysit one too many unruly cousins over the years. But this little girl was an exception, and she'd been through something so tragic so young, losing both her parents like that. Something that Rose could empathise with. "Molly, I lost my daddy very young too. You must be feeling very, very sad, and you are so brave to talk about it."

The Doctor watched them quietly, his eyes glistening.

"But you still had your mummy," Molly pointed out, remembering what the Doctor had said about Jackie.

Rose nodded. "Yes. I did. I do. But I'm sure your Granny loves you just as much, and you two can get through this together, yeah?"

Molly thought about that for a moment, then sniffled, "Well she does give good cuddles."

Rose smiled sadly. "Well there you go then. She's the perfect grandma. Only perfect grandmas can give good cuddles."

"Yeah, that's true," agreed Molly.

"Maybe you should go and give her one, now," Rose suggested. "She looks like she needs one."

"That's a good idea," nodded Molly. "Thank you for talking to me."

"You're very welcome, Molly," Rose replied, her throat tightening with emotion. Molly gave her and the Doctor a smile before walking back over to the middle of the capsule.

Rose stood up, and the Doctor reached for her hand, squeezing gently. "That was lovely of you, Rose," he whispered.

"The poor thing," Rose murmured. She shook her head sadly. "God. How can things like that happen? It's so sad."

The Doctor sighed heavily. "Life can be cruel. Losing people never gets any easier, but at that age…no one should have to go through that. But the universe is very unfair about these things." He met Rose's eyes. "Makes me realise how lucky I am, right at this moment, to have you."

She extricated her hand from his so that she could wrap her arms around him instead. "Me too," she whispered, as they held each other tightly. "Me too."


End file.
